Overview

• Météo‑France kept seven departments on orange vigilance Monday morning for heavy rain and floods, with Bouches‑du‑Rhône, Var and Vaucluse also flagged for thunderstorms after Lozère, Gard and Ardèche exited the alert overnight.
• Overnight downpours delivered exceptional totals, including 159 mm in six hours at Uzès, 123 mm at Orange and 65 mm at Marignane, alongside prolific lightning and strong gusts.
• Prefects in Bouches‑du‑Rhône and Var postponed the rentrée to Tuesday and suspended school transport, a rare move affecting roughly 480,000 pupils across the two departments.
• Authorities reported local flooding and opened a crisis cell in the Aix‑Marseille‑Provence metropolis, while around 1,000 households lost power near Orange and emergency services logged numerous interventions.
• Forecasts indicate hourly rates of 40–60 mm with totals of 100–150 mm and locally up to about 200 mm if cells stall, and officials say an escalation of flood alerts cannot be ruled out through the afternoon and evening.